Moment of Wisdom
by The Palm of a Tiny Hand
Summary: It started with a game of normal dodgeball. Guess who it hit?


**Here I am again! Since I don't have much to do, I'll write this story out of boredom.**

**By the way, its like 1:46am over here and I can't sleep. That's why I'm writing.**

**Haha! Enjoy... while you can...**

* * *

"Who the hell threw that damned ball?!"

Everyone plastered themselves on the ground behind them, terrifyed of the fiery person in front of them. "Na-Na-Natsume... calm down!" cried his nearly bald friend, Mochiage, who, along with the crowd at the bottom of the fire caster's feet, was trembling with fear.

Natsume growled in anger, his manga in one hand and a fireball in the other. "Tell me, who threw that ball?" he then asked calmly, gesturing toward the bits of burnt rubber splattered on a tree behind Natsume.

No one said a word, scared of what the punishment will be.

Natsume twitched. _Are they THAT scared of me?_ His fire disappeared and he placed that hand in his pocket as the other stayed still, handing the manga. "If someone doesn't tell me right now, I'm going to burn all of you," he said, calmly, although with a very cold a eerie feeling.

A cricket chirped.

Natsume was boiling inside. Of course he hadn't meant what he said earlier, but now, he really wanted to. No lie.

A few feet away from the field, Mikan and Hotaru walked along the sidewalk happily. I meant Mikan. She was clinging onto Hotaru's arm as she walked, holding a book on the other. Although Hotaru wasn't really annoyed, she was starting to try to pry the grinning girl with her hands, but she couldn't really do that because of the darn book in her head.

"Isn't this exciting, Hotaru?" Mikan sighed happily.

"I don't see how walking with you will excite me," Hotaru said blankly as they walked.

Mikan rolled her eyes as her best friend continued reading. "I mean, how we're walking in silence like this. I mean, most people would think its awkward, but I find it really comfortable!" she cried happily. "As long as its with Hotaru!" she added as she started cuddling her face with her friend's, much to Hotaru's dismay _and_ disgust.

Somehow, Hotaru finally freed her left hand as she used it to hold Mikan's face about 6 inches away from her head. "Don't touch me with you're dirty skin," she said coldly.

Mikan was wiggling, spreading her arms and legs all over the place. "Hotaruuuuu! You know I'm not THAT dirty!" she said, although it came out as 'Blah, blah, blah,' for Hotaru since it was muffled.

The raven haired girl let go of her best friend and left her standing in confusion as she continued walking, eyes scanning the words in her book.

Mikan frowned at her friend's behavior. "Jeez, Hotaru..." she mumbled. Suddenly, she heard cries for help and turned towards the PE field, to see one stick man in front of a bunch of rocks. Wait a minute... "A stick man?" Mikan said to herself in confusion. "There's no such thing! And what's with the rocks?" Everything seemed so weird.

"Help! We're gonna die!"

Mikan's eyes widened. "Kokoroyomi-kun?" She then began running towards the field.

Hotaru noticed a rush of footsteps and braced herself for the hug that she thought was going to come, but instead she noticed the footsteps fading. She turned and noticed her friend running towards a standing stick and a bunch of rocks. With raised eyebrows, she followed slowly, seeing what she was up to.

"Na-Na-Natsume, please! We don't want to die at a young age!" cried Kitsuneme, the flyer.

"You're 12. That's old enough for me!" Natsume shouted as he lunged towards the group, a raging fireball in each hand. The manga was thrown to the floor.

"No, Natsume!"

Natsume was about to turn around until he was thrown back towards the ground, his fire disappearing from both hands. He was surprised as he noticed a girl on top of him. "P-Polkadots?!" he said in shock.

"M-Mikan-chan?!" The trembling group was freed as most of them ran off, as Anna, Nonoko, Koko, Kitsuneme, Iinchou, and Hotaru ran towards them.

Mikan coughed a bit as she slowly stared at the shocked boy under her. Catching her breath, she then cried, "Natsume, what were you thinking?!"

Natsume's shocked expression was soon replaced by an annoyed one. "Get off me, Polkadots," he said coldly.

Mikan then stood up, with the help of Iinchou and Anna. "Mikan-chan, are you alright?" Anna asked.

Mikan nodded, "Thanks, Anna-chan, I'm fine."

Natsume then stood up and walked over towards his book and picked it up. He then walked away without another word.

Hotaru had finally caught up. "What happened?" she asked.

"I-I don't know," Mikan replied, "I just heard Kokoroyomi-kun's cries so I ran over to them." She then looked towards Iinchou and the others. "What happened here?"

"Well, if you must know, we were playing a normal game of dodgeball when this guy here threw the ball and hit Natsume on his head," Kitsuneme said with his hands behind his neck.

"Hey!" Koko protested. "I didn't do it!"

"I know."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"It's call an excuse so you wouldn't have to tell the truth, idiot."

Mikan and Hotaru were still left blank. "So, what exactly happened?" Mikan then asked.

"Well..." said Koko, refreshing his memory.

**"Throw it to Mochu! To Mochu!" said a very hyper Kitsuneme to Anna.**

**"Fine!" She then threw the ball towards Mochu, who caught it. She groaned.**

**"First of all, Kitsuneme, you aren't supposed to tell the whole world that!" Koko lectured him, rolling his eyes.**

**Mochu snickered. Then, he threw the ball towards Iinchou, who wasn't paying attention, but caught the ball anyway. "What the-"**

**"Take this!" he shouted, then threw it back towards him, catching Mochu off guard, causing him to be out. Iinchou smiled proudly.**

**"Good work!" Nonoko said with a thumbs up.**

**One of the boys in Mochu's side picked up the ball, then threw it towards Koko, who knew right away due to his Alice, and caught it. Koko then threw it towards Sumire, who was busy with her nails to notice anything.**

**"Sumire! Pay attention!" Mochu cried, as he saw the ball heading right towards her.**

**"Why should I?" Sumire retorted, just as the ball hit her in the face.**

**"That's why," Koko smiled, hands on his hips.**

**Sumire was fuming inside, although she let out a faint smile as she walked out of the court.**

**Wakako, Sumire's faithful Transporting Objects companion, picked up the ball, then threw it at Iinchou, who was busy watching an ant crawl on the ground.**

**"Iinchou, watch out!" Kitsuneme cried.**

**Iinchou was ready as he then got back into action and braced himself for the balls impact, hands in position, and grabbed the ball. He then began to throw it until he felt something on his leg. He stopped and looked down to find a giant beetle the size of a thumb on it. He then shriek in terror, accidentally throwing the ball farther than it was supposed to be. It went over the court, and as everyone watched, it landed on a book on the face of a certain boy, sleeping against a Sakura tree. Iinchou's eyes widened in terror after realizing what he did and ran about 5 miles away from the court.**

**The ball landed on the grass next to him, as Natsume then sat up, a full circle mark on his face, angry. He stood up, holding his manga, and picked the ball up. He then threw it at a tree and it exploded once it touched the tree, sending burnt bits of rubber all over the tree, almost like sap covering the tree. He stomped over towards the group in fury, fireball on his free hand's palm. "Alright, who threw that ball?!" he growled in a frightening way that made whoever heard it melt into wax.**

"...And then Natsume popped the ball with his Alice and stomped over to us as if he was King of England," Koko finished.

Kitsuneme sweatdropped. "Talk about exaggeration," he shook his head as he stared at his friend in disbelief.

Mikan looked over at Iinchou, who looked at the ground with an extremely guilty look on his face. "Iinchou, did you at least say sorry?" she asked him.

He looked as if he was about to cry. "He looked so frightening... I couldn't do it," he whispered.

Mikan walked over and patted the boy on his back, trying to consol him. "Well, I can tell Natsume for you," she said. "And besides, Natsume has always been an arrogant lazy bum, so you shouldn't worry about him," she added.

Hotaru was quietly clicking away on her camera as she took pictures of Mikan and Iinchou together. Seriously, she blackmails almost EVERYBODY!

Anna and Nonoko noticed and tried to stop her, with no avail.

"You know what, I'll give him a piece of my mind!" Mikan said as she stuck her fist in the air, and stomp away, only falling to the ground as Iinchou pulled on her legs.

"Mikan-chan! Please, don't! That would only get him angrier!" he cried, clinging onto her legs.

Mikan sighed as she watched her friend. "Well, he may be scary, but I can Nullify is fire if he tries an attack at me, okay?" she asked him.

Iinchou was silent as he slowly let go of her legs and stood up.

Mikan smiled reassuringly as she then ran off to find that arrogant lazy bum.

Hotaru looked at Mikan running, then shook her head. _You're always so caring, yet such a baka at the same time. What a weird combination._

Mikan went to the first place that was in her head. "Aha! There you are!" she said as she ran over to him.

Natsume was leaning against his favorite Sakura tree, reading his manga from earlier.

Mikan stopped in front of him. "You! Why do you have to be so mean?!" she cried, pointing an accussing finger at him.

Natsume slowly looked up at him. "Where are you getting at, Polkadots?" he asked blankly.

"I'm talking about that dodgeball game!" she said heatedly as she stomped one of her foot on the ground, causing Natsume to look at it, then at her.

"You weren't even part of it," he said, "Why are you getting angry?"

Mikan sighed. "Well, you scared everyone down into a corner on the ground with your ranting!" she said.

"Last I checked, grounds doesn't have corners. And, you don't know what they did."

Mikan fumed. "I do know! It was an accident! Iinchou didn't mean to throw that ball on purpose!"

"So it was that illusion kid who did it," Natsume said after a while.

Mikan blinked after realizing what she said. Then she shook her head and said, "Well, he said he's sorry, and if you don't forgive him now and suddenly barge off like a wolf to kill him, you'd have to kill me first!"

It was Natsume's turn to blink. "Tch. Whatever," he said, and suddenly hopped up towards the branch in the tree and leaned against the trunk, placing the manga over his head.

Mikan sighed as she then sat down and leaned against the tree, and began thinking.

After helping one of the teachers in the class, Ruka stepped out of the door with Usagi, his faithful companion bunny. He was walking down the halls until he then noticed a rustling in a bush near the Sakura trees. Confused, he got closer towards the bush and stopped in front of it, not noticing Mikan against a tree. He leaned down and stared at it. He jumped as it started to move again. He then poked a hand inside it and felt inside of it. His hand's journey stopped abruptly as it landed on soft skin. "Huh?" He used his other hand once Usagi hopped off to pry it open. He then saw the face of a very annoyed Hotaru in front of him. "Imai-san! What the heck?" he said.

Hotaru was panicing, constantly telling him to shut up in a calm and cold manner of hers. With no other choice, she pulled him in. "You have to be quiet! If they notice I'm here, I'll literally be toast!" she whispered.

Ruka was sprawled on the ground in the bush. He sat up and nearly shrieked as he noticed Koko, Iinchou, Mochu, and Kitsuneme in there as well. "What the heck are you guys-"

Ruka was cut short as Koko covered his mouth. "We're trying to see if Natsume's going to burn Mikan or not," he explained.

Hotaru had her camera ready, and had already taken several pictures.

Ruka was totally confused. "Wait, what? Why would Natsu-"

"Shh!" Kitsuneme whispered franticly, hoping that the two outside didn't hear them. "We'll explain later!"

Ruka then poked his head out of the bush, along with all the others and looked around until he finally noticed Mikan leaning against a tree. "Sakura-san? What's she doing there?" he asked, until his head was pulled into the bush once more.

"Listen, bunny boy, if you don't speak in a lower voice then I will cut up your testes and tape them to your head!" Hotaru growled, holding Ruka by his hair.

Ruka was frightened, but turned red at the threat.

The others were frightened of this Hotaru. Apparenly, if undercover, Hotaru can be more than what you would see everyday.

Ruka fixed his hair and glared at Hotaru slightly before poking his head out of the bush again.

Mikan then looked up at the fire caster. "Ne, Natsume?"

"I thought you were gone," he replied after a while. He pulled off his manga and sat up straight. "What do you want?"

"Well, I was wondering..." Mikan stared as she looked at the ground. She then hugged her knees and played with a twig she found on the floor. "Are you always tired of doing those missions?" she asked.

Natsume was startled by the unexpected question. "What do you think?" he said, seeing as the answer was obvious as it was.

Mikan continued writing in the dirt with the twig. "Well, then, why do you do it?"

"It's none of your business."

Mikan frowned, although she expected that answer. "It must be hard, letting Persona order you around, day by day... Everytime you go off on a mission, I always can't help but worry if you're ever going to come back," she said quietly, even though Natsume heard it anyway.

He stared down at her. _Why is she saying this?_ He stayed silent.

"Maybe that's why you're always sleeping everytime I see you around campus," she continued. "If only..." She hugged her knees tighter. "If one day, I could replace you and do your missions for you... and then, maybe, you wouldn't be suffering like you are now."

Natsume was shocked. "Why would you want to do that? Your life would be at risk!" he said.

"I know."

Natsume calmed down.

"That's why, in your place, I want to be a replacement of your strength... so you can rest more than you could each day... and maybe... smile more instead of sleeping against a tree." Mikan suddenly felt tears welling up in her eyes. She then wiped them. "What is this? Why am I crying? Must be the wind..."

Natsume couldn't help but feel as if her words had struck him in the heart. He let the words sink into him. _This girl... How does she do this? How can she say the things I've always wanted to hear since I've entered this hell hole of an academy...? _

Mikan's eyes widened as she felt strong arms wrapping themselves around her. She stared at the raven hair that covered her face. "N-Natsume?"

Ruka was having trouble placing what he was thinking in his head. He then poked his head back in the bush and then looked over at Hotaru. He sweatdropped as he saw a recorder in her hands. "Imai-san.. don't you think that's too much?" he asked her. Just like that, his unplacable feelings suddenly vanished.

"Shh!" she shushed him.

He then looked over at Iinchou and the others. They were crying. His eyebrows raised. "Why.. Iinchou-san... Koko... why are you all crying?" he asked.

"It's so romantic!" Iinchou sniffled.

"I've never experienced love in this kind of way," Kitsuneme sobbed into his shirt.

"They're like the star couple!" Koko blew his nose into a hankie.

Click!Click!Click!

"What the...?" Ruka turned and noticed Hotaru holding a camera in hand as the other continued recording and took pictures of the three crying. Ruka shook his head. He stroked Usagi. It was dragged along with him when he was dragged into the bush. He didn't feel like watching them anymore. He had to sort out his feelings towards the brunette.

Hotaru glanced at him from the corners ofer her eyes. She then let out a faint smile.

Natsume embraced her like none other, which left Mikan sitting still in shock.

"N-Natsume... what are you doing?" she asked in confusion, as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks.

Natsume then pulled away from her and stared at her tear-stained face. For the first time, he smiled at her. "You know, Polkadots, you may be annoying and stupid, but you can help people in their time of need," he said. "Thanks for that." He stood up and picked up the manga that he dropped on the ground a few minutes ago.

Mikan watched as he left in a daze. She then stood up and hugged him from behind.

Natsume stopped in his tracks and froze.

Her tears fell faster, wetting his shirt. "Natsume... I want to help you! I don't want you to suffer any more than you already have! Please!" she cried, tightening her grip on his shirt.

Natsume closed his eyes. He then opened them and turned to face her. "You've already helped me enough," he said softly.

Mikan stared up at him.

"Just consoling me would already help. I don't want you to take in the suffering that I'm having as well," he said.

Mikan started sobbing as she hugged him.

Natsume hugged her back, closer and closer, her hair in his face. _If time could stop, then I would want it to stop right now._

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Hotaru watched the film she had successfully recorded a few moments after. She smiled as it finished. She then took the video tape out of the VCR and then placed a label in the front of it. _"Moments of Wisdom."_ was what it was called. _She may be stupid, but she knows her ways once she trying to comfort you._

She stared at the tape for a long while, until putting it in front of a picture of her and Mikan. _For the sake of your happiness, Mikan._

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**It's done! I think I actually liked this one! I still think the ending was cheesy, though. Haha!**

**Okay, since in my other GA one-shots that I have no consideration of continue because of no ideas for it, there are reviews that want it to continue. **

**So in this story, I just MIGHT continue it, if I had about 10 or more reviews. **

**Not to sound greedy, but if there are only like 2 or 3, that makes me think its bad, and I would just leave it as is.**

**So, please! **

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :)**


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